The Story of Easter the rat

One of the all-time great pets

It was March of 2002. I went by Katie’s Pet Depot in Venice, California to get some bedding and rat food. At the time, Katie’s had Carefresh for only four bucks a bag and KayTees rat food for three and a half, which was cheaper than any petstore in Southern California.

Katie’s is a pet store with a pretty bad reputation. Their dogs and cats all looked healthy, I can’t say anything about their state from a first hand perspective. But the other animals, well, it’s not pretty. I know their fish aren’t taken care of very well at all. If you look in the tanks, there are always a couple dead ones floating around in with the live, which is a terrible thing, not just for people to see, but if there are dead fish, something is killing them, and the fact that the employees don’t remove the dead ones, clean out the tank or do something about it tells you how much they really seem to “care” about the animals there.

The rodents are no different. Many times I have been in the store and saw a group of rats stuffed into a ten gallon tank. Boys, girls, old, young, all together, it makes no difference to the employees. I assume having them stuffed in one tiny place together means less to clean up.

Oddly, Katie’s “motto” is “where animals come first.” They should add “unless their rodents, which we really couldn’t care less about.”

I had saved a few rats over the years from the horrible place, but it was becoming apparent to me that it was pointless to go in that store anymore. Often rats were sickly and other people had told me they saved rats from this place and the rats died shortly afterwards. The rats were treated solely as reptile food. Their wellbeing was not something the employees cared about at all. This became clear to me when I offered one time to sort the boys from the girls for them. The lady said to me “aw, it makes no difference. They’re all going as snake food anyway. We don’t really care.”

That says it all about Katie’s Pet Depot. So much for their big motto.

I have saved a couple rats from this place over the years that were sick from the get go. Respiratory issues run rampant through their rodents, and this despite the fact that there is a vet adjoined to the pet store (I might add, I did save a couple rats over the years from there that also never had any health issues too, like my third rat Luke).

So by March of 2002, I went in to get some bedding and rat food (and when I would do this, I would check on the rats to make sure they at least had food and water), and now Katie’s had raised their prices on everything. Both the food and bedding were now higher priced than even Petco, so there was really no reason for me to go into this store anymore. Seeing the state of the rodents there only depressed me.

 
Easter when she was young

It was a week away from the Easter holiday, though, Katie’s had all kinds of rabbits out and since I couldn’t get a rabbit, I figured the least I could do is save one rat for the holiday, despite the fact I was overwhelmed with rats at the time. I went to the rat bin and there were about twenty rats stuffed in a 20 gallon tank. If I had a bigger place, I swear I would have saved them all. But I knew the best I could do was save one and try and convince myself that maybe someone else might come in and save a couple themselves (I will point out, I have been in the store when people were buying rats for pets, in fact, I convinced them to get more than one, so I know there is the occasional rat owner going into the store).

Right away, there was one small rat who was playful from the start. She was trying to get my attention through the glass. She was bouncing all over and when I tapped the glass, she responded right away. She made it pretty easy for me to decide which rat I was going to save that day. I opened the top of the tank and put my hand in. All the rats scampered to various corners of the tank except for the baby who was animated and right away started playing with my fingers.

For a moment I considered taking more, something I’ve always done when saving animals, but I knew I was swamped as it was, and since I hadn’t planned on saving any when I first went in there, the one was going to have to do. The baby climbed up my arm and appeared to be human friendly from the start, which was odd for Katie’s rats since the only human interaction those rats ever had was when an employee stuck their gloved hand in to take one for reptile food.

The baby was put into a travel box for me, I purchased her and decided as I left the store, this would be the last time I would ever step foot into Katies.

By the time I got home, I had named the little girl Easter (for the holiday that was a few days away, which was also my birthday that year) and had put her in her own cage for a quarantine period and also for the possibility that she could be pregnant, despite her size, since she had been living her whole short life in a tank with mixed sexes.  And as many of the rats at Katie’s have, Easter had a respiratory problem, sneezing and wheezing, although it didn’t seem to faze her at all.

She was a very active, energetic little girl. She loved to run around and play and climb and explore.  She loved getting pet, although she would only sit for a few seconds, because she always had somewhere to be or something to do so it seemed.

Right from the beginning I could see she was pretty smart. She figured out how to climb on things that the other rats hadn’t. She was getting into stuff I never thought I’d have to ratproof because no rat before her had tried to get into there. And she loved to play. She was popcorning all the time, loved to wrestle my hand and just run around by herself. I was pretty happy that I had saved her because right away, I could see that this was a rat who was meant to be a pet. She was intelligent, sociable, cheerful and full of life. She was making me laugh all the time with her crazy antics, running all over, climbing everywhere and her little attempts to get into everything.

I had Easter’s quarantined cage next to my desk, so anytime I was at the computer, she was right there and right away wanted attention. It was almost hard to be at the computer because Easter wanted treats, to be pet or to run around. She picked up on her name right away too, so letting her run around the living room wasn’t too tough because when I’d call her, she’d come, maybe because she learned her name, or maybe just because she wanted treats.  

Yeah, this was a treat monger, this girl. She was a stasher like no other. She was making little stashing places all over, from every corner of her cage to every crevice in the living room and kitchen that she could call her own. And this was in the first week.

Sadly, I realized by the end of the first week that she was probably pregnant. She was getting fat and nipples were starting to appear and this made me nervous, not because I would have to find homes for all the babies, but because Easter’s health was an issue. She was wheezing and sneezing still, despite the medicine she was on and I didn’t know how this would affect her babies.

One morning I came out and heard little squeaks. Easter did in fact have babies. There she was, barely a baby herself with a handful of little pinkies all around her. She looked odd feeding those little babies. After a couple minutes, she would pop up and beg to come out. She wanted to play.

But her natural mothering instincts took over and she fed, groomed and attempted to be a mother to her babies (who were only a little over five weeks younger than her). The first few days, the babies seemed to be doing okay. There were black hoodeds like their mom, and albinos. Then after a few a few days, I noticed the babies didn’t seem to be growing too well. Not having seen a problem like this before, I wasn’t sure what to do, but in retrospect, I wish I had acted quicker. A little over a week later, a baby died and the others just weren’t getting milk.

I took Easter and the babies to the doctor and as it turned out, Easter had no milk. Because of the health issues at Katies, Easter couldn’t feed her babies. The doctor gave the babies some medicine to hopefully hydrate them and my next step was to search for another mother to help feed Easter’s babies and fast. This is the part that really sucks.

Easter is always fascinated by the camera

I couldn’t find a nursing mother anywhere. I went to about eight different Petcos, and other mom and pop stores and amazingly, nothing. I even went to Allan’s in Venice, which is a store that’s even worse than Katie’s when it comes to rodents. I could not find a mom. Finally, I went back to Katies because I know since all the rats where in the same tank, they had to have nursing moms.

They had one, an albino with seven babies. I had no choice, I had to give Katies more money for rats. They wouldn’t even give me a break on the babies either, full price for all (the scumbags). I even explained my predicament to them. Full price.

The albino mom, I named Seven because the amount of babies, also had a bit of a respiratory problem. She was also a little snippy because of the lack of human interaction and because she was in fact nursing. She seemed to take in Easter’s babies right away, without any problems. I also tried to handle her as much as possible, with gloves at first, but soon, without any protection. When she realized I was a friend, she became pretty friendly

Sadly, Easter’s babies all died over the next week. Maybe if I had acted quicker, they might have had a chance, I don’t know. It would have been nice to have saved some, especially if any would have turned out as great as their mom.

I had Seven on the medicine too because she was still wheezing and sneezing. Her babies seemed to be nursing okay, but they too, started dying, all within a couple days. And Seven did too, the poor girl.

Needless to say, I have never been in Katies since then. It’s really sad that a petstore can be so thoughtless when it comes to certain animals.

Meanwhile, Easter was introduced to my rats and joined the clan. She was the most active out of the bunch and one of those rats who never, ever wanted to scuffle. She was about playing and running and stashing, that’s it.

Easter got along great with all the rats. Of course, she was always making me laugh too.

Then later in the year, someone from Bakersfield had saved some rats from a shelter and I agreed to take six. Out of the six, one of them would follow Easter everywhere. She would sleep with Easter and hang out with her and was basically her shadow. I had never seen a rat get so attached to another like that. I found homes for the five and decided to keep the one who loved Easter and named her Friday (as in Good Friday).

Friday and Easter were the best of buddies. They even looked like sisters.

All the rats lived together, as many as 17 at one point and Easter was basically the first to get treats and the last back in the cage when playtime was over. Of course, she loved to come out and play by herself in the living room, running around and having a good old time, trying to see what she could get into. Easter is a great girl and a fine pet, but also one of the main reasons for the words “rat proof.”

She could find ways into things other rats could not. She could get into tight spaces, climb up anything, or get behind anything. I would keep a barrier at the door separating the my room (where the rats had a few hours every night free time outside the cage) and the hallway. Easter figured out how to get on top of the barrier and then jump off.

She would shimmy up the wooden door frame like James Bond on a super secret mission. She would get to the top of the barrier and climb over. Then from the top of the barrier, she would position herself and get her nerve up, as if she was going to bungee jump, then leap from the barrier to the carpeted hallway, where she could then do whatever she wanted. Often I’d be in the kitchen or in the bathroom and Easter would saunter up and as if to say “it’s okay if I’m out here, right?”

I had to place some cardboard and pieces of metal over the door frame so she couldn’t climb up it anymore.

Easter and the Doctor

Poor Easter, I never figured she’d last six months with all her health issues. Besides having been to the doctor a couple times for her respiratory problems (her lungs are just scarred from being raised in that awful place, not too much you can do), and for her babies emergency, Easter also got an eye infection once. The whole left side of her face swelled up to where she looked nothing like a rat. She looked like one of the creatures from the John Carpenter movie The Thing. I thought for sure she was a goner when her head swelled up so big, like that. Her one eye was a huge glob and she had to be in pain.

But when I took her to the doctor for that, she got a shot and some medicine which she received everyday and amazingly, not only did the swelling go down to normal, but you can’t even tell her head was once distorted like it was. The only remnant of the ordeal is a very slight cataract on her eye which you can only see in the light. I’m not sure if she can see out of that eye (I don’t possibly see how she could after it was so swollen like it was) but by all accounts, she doesn’t seem to be blind in it. I would guess she might have limited eye sight in that eye, but otherwise, is fine.

I couldn’t even take pictures of her when her head was like that because I thought she wasn’t going to make it, but now I wish I had. To see her like that and after when she was back to normal, you wouldn’t think it was the same rat. The little girl has been through so much.

Only the girl’s penchant for living has brought her through all her health issues. She is such a happy girl, lover of humans and attention, every health problem that has arisen has simply been a slight hampering for her. She always pulls through and acts as if nothing ever happened, constantly begging for treats and attention and still trying to get into places where she’s not supposed to be.

The New Residence

I moved to a new residence which is a lot smaller than the old one.

In my new place, the rats were living on a raised table so they were never actually locked in a cage. Friday started putting on weight by this time and was one of the biggest rats I had. She ended up being more buddies with Posy, who was also bigger, than she was with Easter.

In the new residence, I had to see what issues would arise with the master scammer. I knew Easter would quickly figure out how to get into and onto things so it was going to take a couple weeks before I could rat proof the place. I had to let Easter do her thing so I could find out what had to be rat proofed.

First was the TV cords. The TV was on a nice stand and the back and sides were immediately covered in cardboard to prevent them from climbing onto or behind the stand. But the cord ran about three feet over to the wall outlet. I would often look around and there was Easter on the TV or on the stand, walking around as if it was totally normal. Finally, I found out how she was doing it.

She would climb up to the cord and walk across it like one of the great Walendas, slowly going foot-to-foot, barely keeping her balance until she got to the TV stand, then she’d have her fun.

I had to tape the cord from the outlet to the wall, straight up about a foot, then cover it with cardboard and lots of tape to prevent Easter from being able to grab onto the cord. Oh she still tried, and over a few months, she’d eventually chew enough of the tap off that the she’d get a good gripping and pull herself up. I  had to periodically reinforce the cardboard and the taping so she could grab on. Only until about three or four months ago has she finally stopped trying.

My place is small. There is a long, thing counter that separates the kitchen from the living room. During my first week here, I’d be cooking something, then hear a noise, turn around and there was Easter walking around the counter. So I rat proofed that.

My desk has thin metal legs on it and that was absolutely no problem for Easter to shimmy up. She was the only one (except for the occasional rescue, who would watch Easter do it and then follow her lead). Rat proofing the desk has been tough and I still to this day have to find something new to cover because Easter will figure out a new way to get up on it (and this is where all the wires and chewable stuff are). When people come into my residence and see my desks, they laugh at all the cardboard sticking out here and there. But it’s a necessity with the super smart Easter wandering around.

The place that I really didn’t want Easter having access to was the kitchen. Underneath the cupboards seems to be space that I cannot tell where it leads to. It’s possible it could lead inside the walls and I definitely do not want Easter having access to that area, so what I’ve done is get the barrier I used to have in my old place and use it to cover the entrance to the kitchen. In other words, if I want to go into the kitchen, I have to step over the barrier (which I’m used to, believe me). To keep the barrier up, short of drilling holes in the wall, I tape both side of it to the sides of the entrance. I have bricks and weights at the bottom holding the barrier close the wall, because Queen Easter will chew all the tape off and squeeeeeeeeze between the wall and the barrier to get in the kitchen, moving the brick or whatever heavy item I’ve got there over enough to get in.

This is a constant battle I'd have with her. Because she’s far and away the oldest rat I had, I'd let her off the table as much as I can, which is basically all the time that I’m home, except for when I’m asleep (she wants attention and will wake me up two or three times for treats).  She knows she’s not supposed to try and get into the kitchen, yet she still does whenever she’s got a hankering to get in. I’ll be watching TV and I’ll hear the sound of her chewing on the tape, so I get her and put her on the table. She knows she’s not supposed to do it but she wants to see if she can get away with it.

I’ll take her back down a while later and after maybe an hour, I’ll hear her again, chewing the tape, trying to get into the kitchen.

Sometimes I’ll be in the shower or something, I’ll come out and there’s Easter in the kitchen, just wandering around as if it’s okay. She look up at me while chewing on whatever thing she’s found on the floor, as if to say “hi, I’m in the kitchen!”

When Easter was younger, she was always moving. Constantly bouncing off the walls and having things to do, places to be. As she’s gotten older, she slowed down a bit, enough to where she likes to lie on my stomach if I’m watching TV or lie next to me for some petting.

And as an older rat she'd get a lot more free time. In fact, if I didn’t have to worry about her getting into stuff, I’d let her be a free range rat all the time. But for some reason, no matter how much I try to block her, she has to try to get into the kitchen. It is her destiny. She must get through that barrier and be where she’s not supposed to be.

The other thing Easter likes to do is follow me into the shower. She loves the shower for some reason. Sometimes she’ll just go into the bathroom and sit on the step leading into the shower. I’ll open the door for her and she’ll play in that tiny little area for a long time. I don’t know what it is about it, but she just loves it in there.

If I’m going into the shower and she gets right on my heals, she’ll follow me right into the shower. I’ll turn the water on and she’ll just run through it and back to the a dry corner. I’ll even splash a little water on her and she doesn’t mind. She just likes being in the shower.  She’ll play in there for a while and then when I get out I have to dry her off too because she’ll walk around with her tiny wet paws all over the place.

Sometimes I’ll take a shower and I’ll notice a little black outline of a rat at the bottom of the door sitting on the step. It’s Easter, waiting for me to come out. She’ll sit there the whole time until I come out, which means slowly opening the door nudging her off the step so I can get out. Then she tries to slip into the shower which I try to avoid because the water is still draining and she’ll just get all wet and track it around the house.

Surprisingly, she doesn’t like getting a bath. She’ll fight and scratch to get out of getting shampooed and rinsed, but she has no problem sauntering into the shower with hot water all over the place.

Getting old

Past her two year mark, Easter was starting to lose a lot of her mobility. She didn't climb on anything other than the couch. She started to stop going into the kitchen and she was just happy having the floor to play around on. I set up a nice comforter for her to rest in so basically Easter was able to spend all her time on the floor and when she was sleeping, it was inside the comforter.

I kept saying by June 2004 that she wasn't going to make it through the month. She was losing use of her hind legs and  although she could still wobble around, she was definitely on her way out. Despite her elderly status, she would still get excited when I would give her a cookie. She'd take it and eat it, slowly, but not leaving barely a crumb behind. When I was at the computer, she'd saunter to my feet and beg to come up because I'd keep some cheerios in the corner of the chair for her which she absolutely loved. When she was done with her cheerios, she'd climb into my lap for some petting and not move until I did.

Easter did make it through June, finally passing on July 1, 2004. One of the all time greatest rats, Easter charmed everyone she came in contact with. People who would come here couldn't believe a rat could be so friendly and excited to see humans. She would climb up people's pant legs or beg for treats, or even in her declining months, sit in someone's lap as they pet them, enjoying every minute.  

I wish everyone could experience a pet like Easter, whether it be a dog, cat, rat, rabbit or anything. She was one of the greatest pets, of any species, I've ever had and she is missed very much, not just by me, but by her roommates (especially Ivory) and everyone who ever came in contact with her.

The last picture taken of Easter on June 20, 2004

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